Saturday, 11 March 2017

Classic Rant: An RPG Charter of Freedoms and Principles

We, the undersigned, in light of recent events in the RPG/gaming hobby and in 'geek culture' in general, wish to clarify our unwavering commitment to the following ideas:

0. The hobby is open to everyone. Everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other quality are welcome to participate in the hobby. Everyone has an inherent right to equal treatment, and we will condemn all instances of either discrimination or preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, sexual preference, age, social class, ethnicity/nationality, or any other similar quality.

1. Everyone in the hobby has an inherent right to say and express what they want. We oppose censorship on principle, within the reasonable bounds of legality and only the most basic of requisites for the functionality of public spaces for debate. Everyone, regardless of any condition, has a right to speak/write about games, design games, criticize games, and present ideas about games and gaming culture.

2. Everyone likewise has the right to criticize statements made by anyone else, to examine them for truth, to condemn them, so long as said criticisms and condemnation remain within the boundaries of legality and truthfulness.

3. There is no right to lie. There is no right to attempt to censor someone else's expression for the purpose of not allowing third parties to make up their own minds. There is no "right to not be offended".

4. We oppose harassment, persecution, stalking, attempts to blackball any individuals in the hobby, and particularly any attempts to threaten their physical persons or expose details of their personal lives for the purpose of harassment or intimidation. Likewise the use of slurs/insults against a person's race, physical appearance, sexual orientation, gender or other inherent qualities of birth or personal characteristics irrelevant to a person's ideas.

5. The vigorous challenging of a person's ideas or statements in public and topical venues is NOT harassment. A person has no "right to not be questioned".